Swami's Racing

Race Report: Manhattan Beach Grand Prix Sun June 28th

2009-06-29T20:59:00.000-07:00

Alex - 3rd
Zack - 4th

Manhattan Beach Grand Prix is one of the last Cat 2 races of the season and Rob, Jason, Pascal, Zack and I were there representing Swamis DET. At a quick team meeting in the staging area, we hashed out our plan: be attentive and work together as a unit. The chances of a sprint finish were high, so Jason, Pascal and Rob were to keep Zack and myself as rested and sheltered as possible. It would then be our job to stay out of harms way, jockey for good position into the decisive last turn before the finish, and then sprint our trusty steeds with all our hearts (and legs) to the finish line.

Ralph Elliot rightfully labelled the course banana-shaped, and with a slight rise leading into each of the two 180 degree turns on opposite ends, it was definitely not a crit for the faint-hearted. Upon the official’s whistle it was go time and all us DET riders quickly took charge.

Pascal, Rob and Jason covered breaks and kept tabs on Zack and I, and the two of us were able to stay out of harms way and float around the top 20. The pressure mounted as our stellar team effort came to fruition but, we all fed off that pressure; this was true racing at it’s core: crashes ensued, the impressive crowd cheering as we passed by, the glory of an NRC podium was on the line! The field was lined out through the start/finish when, before I knew it, I saw 2 laps to go. Great carnage was likely on this technical course during the final laps, and a peloton of 100 or so over-eager and reckless Cat 2s increased the danger exponentially: it was important to stay close to the front. The team dropped us off perfectly for the final lap and with 1 to go I was somewhere around 10th wheel. On the back stretch I did my best to not get boxed in and anticipated surges on the wide course. I hopped onto a mini train and was about five riders back with Zack right behind me. Two riders jumped into the turn and I followed. TRhge sprint was on! I got edged out for second by about half of a wheel and took 3rd place on the day. Zack was close behind finishing in 4th with a well timed surge and bike throw. A podium finish and another teammate in the top five – a very respectable day in the office to say the least.

It is evident that all of our hard work and experience together as a team is paying off. We set out with specific objectives for this race and we executed them in textbook fashion. I look forward to building on this performance in the weeks to come. It was great motivation for us all as July is a month packed with some big races. SLO, Super Week, Cascade and Nationals in Bend, OR are just some of the races our DET riders will be heading to.

Until next time,
Alex

Race Report: State Road Race Sun June 7th

2009-06-24T14:44:00.001-07:00

When we last left off it was State RR time and the squad of Alex, Rob, newly minted Cat 1 Corey, Jason, Orion, and I travelled to Bakersfield for the 93 mile State Road Race. We were accompanied by super sognieur/domestique Kevin Davenport. Kev was there to help feed us. He raced the Cat 5 Sunday morning before our race and finished in 34th place. He's a real trooper for helping us post race. I think many of us were still in bed while he was going up the climb the first time!

The race started with the usual early attack which we let go without much fight. LaGrange rode on the front and kept the gap around 3 minutes. With 1 feeder and 6 guys requiring 2 bottle and food on 2 separate laps feeding was tricky. Corey and I were designated team leaders for the day and Alex, Rob, Jason, and Orion had domestique duty. they grabbed mussettes from Kevin and fed the team at each feed zone. This was huge. On the 2nd lap corey attacked the climb but the field chased him down. The break had dwindled to a solo rider and his gap was dropping. At the start of the 3rd lap we got our final feed and we lost Alex and Rob after they slayed themselves for the squad. a pair of riders snuck off and caught the solo man and the break surged ahead as we hit the final climb. Jason also snuck off the front to keep Swamis in the game! We rode up the final climb slow but we still lost riders; we were 80 miles into a 93 mile race! On the descent LaGrange chased furiously and they were down to 1 man, Adam Livingston in the final miles (Adam was defending champ and like the champion he is he chased solo on the front to stay in the race). SC Velo and Jason and Orion hit the front and pulled back the break with 1 mile to go! Orion put in a few digs to keep it fast and Jason moved me up to the top 5. I yelled at Jason to go and make it fast and with 600m to go he jumped. After he faded Thurlow Rogers took over and the sprint was on! A few guys came around my right and a few on the left and I passed a few and we hit the line. I crossed in 6th! Sweet! It was a great team result! Everyone rode awesome and we got lots of props for our efforts! Post race we snagged burritos at Chipotle- my favorite post race treat!

Next up: San Pedro GP and the return of the Cuban Missle!

Chris

Alex Jarman Wins Tour de Donuts!

2009-06-01T14:13:00.000-07:00

Alex suffering up the final climb in Le Tour de Donuts. Does he get upgrade points for this? It must have been a really slow newsday too: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/sports/more/Tour-de-Donuts-Rides-Through-San-Diego.html

Corey Farrell: First DET Cat 1!!!! (One is not the loneliest number; it's the coolest)

2009-06-01T09:12:00.000-07:00

We are proud to announce Corey Farrell got his Cat 1 upgrade. This is awesome news for Corey and the Swamis DET. Corey will be attending the U23 national champs later this season and hopefully he'll get an opportunity to go to europe with the US U23 squad.

Corey is the first development rider from Swamis DET to get his Cat 1.

Race Report: Ventura County Stage Race, Sat/Sun May 16-17

2009-06-01T08:48:00.000-07:00

Squad: Corey, Chris, Zack, Skyler, & Robin

So finally a race thats about as local as it gets for me. I've been excited about this race since hearing about in December. The race was a 20 minute drive from my house in Ventura, Ca. So the crew got to my house the night before. Everyone just did some final adjustments to their bikes, ate, and slept.

The next morning we did the usual pre race stuff, and headed to downtown Ventura for the prologue. The course was 2 miles with 2 small risers, and one steep downhill that went straight into a left turn. I wasn't sure if I should race it on a road or time trial bike because of how technical the course was. I ended up riding the time trial bike, just because the turns were pretty wide, and there were some flat parts where you could make up some time.

The team signed in, kitted up, and started warming up. I never saw any of the other guys again, as I opted out on the trainer and got on the road. Since the prologue was so short you had to really get on it during the warm up. I got it done pretty well, but my legs were still a little stale while rolling up to the start.

My goal was to go under 4:05, but after crossing the finish I was told I went 3:58:71. Not that it really mattered because the time gaps between first and 50th would be something like 20 seconds. The time put me into 16th place, 4th in the U23 category, and 12 seconds off the lead. Later in the day was the crit, so we headed back to my house and recovered for a few hours.

Corey @ 3:58:71
Daggs @ 4:02:02
Zack @ 4:05:16
Robin @ 4:06:94
Skyler @ 4:18:30

So the crit was in the same place as the prologue. The course was going to be hard and lined out with a short steep climb after a long false flat to the start finish. There was also the same steep downhill to left turn that would keep everybody paying attention.
The race got going from the gun and within the first 5 laps or so, there was a crash that split the field. With a lead group of about 35 the pace was still being driven by a few different teams. The goal for the crit was to keep Daggs and myself in the front and save our legs for the tough road race the next day. We ended up finishing the 75 minute crit, and I ended up moving to 13th in GC and first in the U23 race.

Next up was the road race in Ojai. We were able to sleep in and take our morning slowly which was great. We drove up to Ojai and got Zack his caffeine fix at Starbucks. Quickly we realized that is was going to be super hot that day, which isn't unheard of in upper Ojai. The temperature was quickly at 95 degrees before the start, and got over 100 during the race. With no shade on the course everyones jerseys were quickly unzipped.

The race got off pretty slow, with the exception of a few solo attempts to get away. The course had climb that was about a mile long that was sure to blow the field up during one of the 11 times we rode up it. For the first few laps my legs weren't feeling super great, and it was HOT. Then on the 5th lap Neil Shirley and Roman Kilun attacked at the bottom of the climb, and I tried to bridge my way up to it. At the top of the climb I wasn't able to catch up, but I was with 2 guys from Liquid Fitness. I looked back and saw we had a pretty big gap, so I stayed with them. We quickly started rolling pretty well, and the gap to Neil and Roman slowly started dropping. Eventually the gap started to grow and they kept pulling away, but we were also opening up a pretty big lead on the main field. We were working pretty well together, and aside from the occasional cramping I was feeling pretty good. At the end of the 11 laps I rolled across the finish in 4th place, and we opened up about 4 minutes on the main field. I was pretty happy to finally get the result I have been wanting, and it was even better to find out I had placed 4th in GC and 1st in the U23 category.

The race organizers put on an awesome race, and I can't wait to race it next year.

Corey

Ventura

2009-05-18T09:21:00.001-07:00

Me and corey shadowing Roman Kilun, pro w/OUCH in the crit.

Collegiate Nationals: Fort Collins, CO by Alex Jarman

2009-05-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

Collegiate Cycling Nationals was this past weekend in Fort Collins,
Colorado. All of the best teams and individuals in the nation would be
competing for the stars and stripes jersey. Myself and Tammy
Wildgoose represented UCSD's cycling team, qualifying individually based on our rankings in the overall omnium for the West Coast Cycling Conference.
We arrived in Fort Collins on Wednesday to get acclimated
to the elevation prior to Friday's road race. Thursday morning we went for a beautiful spin through the valley in Fort Collins and then drive the tortuously hilly course. Several of the racers were at the rider meeting Thursday night. This was the real deal - full neutral support from Shimano, rolling closure, etc.
Friday morning was the first big day of racing. Tammy ventured outside
the hotel to warm-up and was greeted by a crisp-cold morning and gale
force winds. The womens Division 1 race was off first at 8am with a field
of about 80 of the nations best college women racers. The peloton stayed
together until the first major climb of the day. Tammy was able to stick
with the lead group for the first portion but by the top was not able to
hold onto the lead group. The rest of the road race was spent battling
the winds with a group of about 15 riders and attempting to chase down
the two groups in front. Tammy finished 21st in a shattered and tired
group of four riders.
The mens Division 1 race began promptly at 11 am with a field of more
than 130 of the nation's best. Although it was a "neutralized start," race was chaotic from the gun with a crash about two miles in ending the race for some. I immediately fought my way to the front, and sat two wheels back from the car leading the bunch. The peloton shattered into several groups by the time we reached the circuit in Masonville. The climbs, elevation and competitive field did me and several others in. I felt good in the third group, but being that our group was 6 minutes down at about 50 miles into the 70 mile race, I decided to end the chase and focus/recover for the crit on Saturday.
Saturday was the last day for Tammy and I to show off some sprinting
skillz. Tammy was frustrated with her performance in the road race and
was able to channel that energy into the criterium.
The women's field managed to stay together for the majority of the 60
minute race. With two laps to go their was a crash that fractured the
field. Tammy was able to avoid that crash and stick with the front group
to the finish line. It ended in a bunch sprint with Tammy able to sprint
as hard as she ever has for 3rd place! This finish also moved her up into
8th place in the omnium.
The men's race was fast and intense! The field was strung out in a long
line for most of the race. The peloton of over 130 riders stayed together
for most of the 75 minute race. I sat amongst the top 20-30 riders for most of the race. However, with five laps to go a group of about four riders managed to get away from the main group causing an enormous and chaotic chase effort by University of Vermont riders. The peloton averaged 29.5 miles per hour for the race, of which we were easily well above 30mph for the last 5 laps. The peloton caught the break with about half a lap to go and I was unable to get into good position. I finished 31st.
After a long weekend in Fort Collins and a good season of racing, Tammy and I were very pleased with an epic weekend of racing to end our collegiate careers.

- Alex

Race Report Retraction: San Luis Rey RR

2009-05-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

Clarification has been requested by Fred Muir on the San Luis Rey RR race report. Per the original report Fred did drink half the beer we brought to the race for our feeders. However, we only brought 4 beers (I'm a lightweight - light featherweight really), so Fred only drank 2 beers. Apparently, a number of Swami's had become concerned with Fred's drinking problem.

Collegiate Nats Update

2009-05-08T11:08:00.000-07:00

Got a call from Alex in CO. He is resting up and hoping to have agood ride in the RR. It's a tough course and definitely favors the climbers. Alex was hoping to finish and blow the legs out while looking for a big result in the crit. He also said that Nationals were going to streaming live on cycling.tv. Cool!

Sat is the crit. Hopefully I'll hear from him later today about his RR performance.

Chris

Alex Jarman to Collegiate Nationals in CO!

2009-05-06T13:07:00.000-07:00

Alex Jarman will be representing UCSD at the National Collegiate Cycling Association Championships in Ft Collins, CO. Alex placed top 20 in the crit last year and is looking to better that in 2009. The nationals berth came after an abbreviated, but effective collegiate campaign in the tough WCCC. Alex had a number of top 5 placings and was awarded an individual invite to NCCA Nats.

Go Alex!

Man vs. Lizard: Corey's final Gila Report

2009-05-06T07:23:00.000-07:00

Below is Corey's final report from Gila:

Friday: Had a less than spectacular time trial. The course has absolutely no flat ground in it. You are either climbing or descending. Usually this would be a perfect race against the clock for me. I had to really try to remember and not go out too hard. Time trials at altitude are hard, you can't recover. I don't wear a heart rate monitor, but I'm pretty sure thats the hardest it's ever thumped. Saturday: The plan was to rest up, and spin out my legs. The course was on a pretty tough loop with 115 feet of climbing in a .7 mile lap and it was ridiculously windy. Was able to avoid any problems, and sat in the with pack.

Sunday: The infamous Gila Monster stage. The course was 105 miles of fun. There was almost 10,000 feet of climbing, finishing up with a 13 mile climb to the finish. I really wish SoCal had more races like this, I loved it. So a early break of 6 guys rolled off, but I didn't want a repeat of my experience on first stage. I figured it was a long stage, and they would be brought back. They eventually got a gap of 11 minutes on us with about 70 miles to go. After that the pack wasn't letting anything go. I was able to attack on a little climb, and get away alone...Great I have nobody with me, but what do I have to lose. I could either sit up and ride with the pack until the final big climb, hoping the break would be caught. OR I could do a super Jens Voigt inspired solo move and attempt to bridge the 11 minutes to the break and move way up in the final overall.
I chose the later. Eventually I looked down and calculated I had about 65 more miles to race, 13 of them uphill at almost 8,000 feet. It was one of the suicide moves where you really had no other choice.

I quickly got into a good, fast tempo and started motoring on the winding roads toward the brutal Gila Monster climb. Luckily there was a tail wind to make things a bit easier on me, but not much. A motorcycle referee rode up and gave me my time splits. Along with some encouragement, he told me I was 4 minutes ahead of the pack and 6 minutes from the break which was down to 4 riders. There was still about 30 miles to the finish, and I was committed to catching them. At the base of the climb, the group was 6 minutes behind me and I was 4 minutes from the break.

I started the climb, still feeling pretty good. About 3 miles into the climb, I could feel the effort of trying to catch the break start to creep into me. A few miles later the referee rolled up and told me there was a group of 4 guys flying up the mountain and he that he was waiting for a radio confirmation of the time gaps. With about 8 miles to go he told me they were 3 minutes behind me, and I don't remember the time split to the break. I just wanted to hold the chasers off. Then with 6 miles to the finish the group of now 3 chasers caught me. I held on the group for the next mile or so, but the race leader threw in a super hard attack that I couldn't follow. I tried to crawl my way back, but they kept pulling away. While doing that it happened again, I cracked. I tried eating and drinking everything I had on me. A bit later a big group of riders rode right past me. Most of them trying to give me a push while riding by. I rode the last 3 miles alone, with a few stragglers passing me every once in a while. When I finally got the finish I got off my bike and sat down below a tree. Eventually, I went and picked up my spare wheels from the follow car and rolled the 5 miles back into town. In the end I ended up losing 5 spots in the overall, but I gained a lot of street cred.

In order to win, you must risk losing. Unfortunately over the last few days, I've learned this the hard way. Even though the race didn't turn out as I hoped, it was still a good experience. I'll be back next year.

Corey

SLR Pics 2

2009-05-04T14:32:00.000-07:00

SLR Pics

2009-05-04T14:20:00.000-07:00

Race Report: San Luis Rey RR, Sun May 3

2009-05-04T10:28:00.000-07:00

Squad: Sky, Zack, Alex, Jason, Pascal, Orion Berryman, and myself.

Goal: Redemption

The Barrio Logan GP/SLR RR is my favorite race weekend of the year. These are two of the best courses in SoCal (anywhere for that matter). It's a classic Crit/RR weekend, reminiscent of the races I did growing up in the Midwest. And if I had to pick one race of the entire season to do well in, I'd pick SLR (or Nationals, but Nationals can be a crapshoot). But this year I wasn't expecting much for SLR even with the new course-sure there was less climbing, but that just means we'll go faster on the climbs! I hadn't been doing much climbing in training lately so I was planning on a supporting role at SLR. I was bummed after Barrio and so was the rest of the team; that one seems to escape us every year. The saying goes "You're only as good as your last result" and after Barrio that was 21st and missing the break! The Swamis DET is better than that; everyone was determined to put Swamis back to the top of the results sheet at San Luis Rey.

Our pre-race meeting was quick: be aggressive and make the breaks! We had many Swamis feeding us: Gary and Luuuuuke Emerson, Kevin Davenport, Fred Muir (who drank half our beer), and many others. The feeds and cheers were awesome. Behind every good team is a good support system and the Swamis were tip top in that area Sunday.

From the gun an attack went. Two riders rolled away and no one chased. Zack took over to cover it and soon it was Zack leading the race. A lap later another group took off and Alex covered that. Perfect. Jason has been riding really well and is our ace climber. His job was to follow Adam Livingston. Earlier in the week Adam told me he was skipping Barrio to win SLR. Jason rode great and did his job to perfection; Adam was very aggressive in the early laps and Jason was right there. Finally Rock Racing decided to shutdwon Alex and Zack's break. The race officals threatened to neutralize the 1/2 field if we got caught by the master 35+ field. If that happened the break would get a huge gap and our race would be over. Good for Swamis, but bad for Rock! They put the hammer down for a lap and brought the break back.

We passed the halfway mark and the field was more or less intact. Two riders had jumped away. Guys were tired. I had been feeling strong and decided to save my legs for the finale to help Jason or do something myself. As we neared the feed zone the 4th time a strong group attacked and I was in a perfect position to go with them. Before I knew it we'd caught the lead duo and put a good gap into the field. I had been feeling really good on the climbs and was usually in the big ring; I could tell I was on a good day so now I had to finish it off for the team. We motored for the next couple laps: we were doing 27-30mph on the flats and 14-17mph on the climbs! On the last lap we got word our gap was close to 2mins. I was starting to feel crampy so I drank up and sat on as much as I could. I had been working a fair share, but 2 guys had been sitting the whole time. Now it was my turn to sit. We started attacking each other in the valley on the way to the turnaround. We traded attacks but everyone was saving it for the final climb. After the corner more attacks came in the tailwind. Rudy from Liquid Fitness, attacked on the first ramp and our group split. We came back together at the base of the main climb and then Nic Sanderson from Rock attacked and shattered the group. Of course the two wheelsuckers had the juice to go with him and so did Rudy. My legs were locking; I quickly decided that I'd better just ride my best pace to the top. I didn't feel too bad, but there was no attacking left in my legs. I kept the pressure on and was soooo relieved to see the cones for the finish. The chasers were nowhere in sight so I had time to enjoy a nice hard fought result. I ended up 8th, not too bad at all.

The field came through soon and most of the guys were in there with Pascal mixing it up for 19th. The guys were awesome today. It was really awesome to have Swamis yelling for us all day.

Thanks Gurus. I'll see you on the road.

Chris Daggs

Race Report: Barrio Logan Crit, Sat May 2

2009-05-04T08:02:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a rough day at the office.

Barrio Logan is a tough crit and one of the best SoCal has to offer. Figure 8 course. Uphill. Tight corners. Always a bit windy. Cool venue. We had a good size squad: Myself, Skyler, Zack, Alex, Jason King, Rob Carr and Joel. We were excited to have Joel racing with us; his finishing speed and smarts are a great asset! After Zack's success last week we were looking for more results. Our game plan: Rob was super domestique today; Jason and I were to cover breaks and work on keeping the race together if it came down to a sprint; Joel, Sky, Alex, and Zack were our sprint team with Alex and Zack also watching for a break. Attacks started rolling from the gun and we were on it. Rob was a regular sight at the front pulling and closing breaks down; he had a great race. Jason and I were covering little breakaways and making sure Swamis was in the mix. Alex and Zack also made some excellent moves. things were looking good until 20mins to go. The field got strung out and gaps started top open. Before we knew it a small group had snuck away and we missed it!!! I jammed hard and closed the gap and caught a few guys who got dropped from the break. Luckily for us SDBC lost a man out of the break so they had to chase too. But we just couldn't coordinate our efforts and the break steadily pulled out of sight. In the end Sky finished 21st, 1 place out of the money. We were all disappointed with the outcome of the race. That is the roller coaster of racing: one week you're winning and the next you're 1 place out of the $$$.

We'll just have to throwdown at San Luis Rey!

Chris

Race Report: Dana Point GP Pro/1, Sun April 26th

2009-05-04T07:32:00.001-07:00

Short and sweet. Sky, Jose, and I (Chris) did the Pro/1 race at Dana Point. We were a bit concerned it was going to be a crashfest as the course is pretty technical. We had a huge field and lots of pros were there: Bissell, OUCH (w/Floyd), Rock, Fly V, Colavita and a few others. Dana Point is an NRC race; this means the field is limited to Pros and Cat 1s and there is a minimum prizelist of $15K! Sky is a pretty saavy sprinter so our goal was to get Sky in position for the sprint. As expected it was FAST. Not dicey though, very very smooth. There were lots of attacks, but the fast course kept things close and we were destined for a field sprint. I worked with Sky to help move him towards the front for the sprint. I didn't do much but got him towards the top 40 with about 10 laps to go. With 6 to go Sky got T-boned by some guy and nearly crashed! Sky said both wheels came off the pavement and he hit Rory Sutherland on OUCH (the other guy didn't even acknowledge he bumped Sky). Sky was a bit dazed, but Rory saw exactly what happened and sprinted up to the offender and took a mean swipe at him! The incident took Sky out of position and with the speed of the group the last few laps, we were going anywhere. Sky, Jose, and I all finished safely in the bunch. Live to fight another day! It's always fun doing NRC races. It was pretty cool to look over and see Floyd next to me a few times.

Chris

Man vs. Lizard: Corey @ Gila Stage 3 and 4

2009-05-03T22:38:00.000-07:00

Briefly heard from Corey that his Stage 3 TT didn't quite like he wanted it to, but he moved up the GC to 18th. Solid. Gila is so freakin hard, even the crit has climbing. Stage 4 was the crit and Corey finished in the field.

Hopefully the Gila Monster goes well for him on Sun!

Bottles!!!!

2009-05-02T19:13:00.000-07:00

The DET accessorized with the new custom bottles today at the Barrio Logan crit. They be represented complete with our bestest post-ride recovery drink sponsor Fluid!

Everyone has been super excited about getting these for a while... and it's easy to see why. Watch here as Chris Daggs takes full advantage of his share by stuffing them down his jersey....

Man vs. Lizard: Corey's Gila Report Stage #2

2009-05-01T08:09:00.001-07:00

We have heard from Corey about stage 2, but we saw he recovered from his hard first day! He finished 27th on stage 2 in the second group. Gila is a hard race, but it appears stage 2 was very hard. The field was broken up into small groups. Corey is solidly in the hunt for a top 10. Let's send some good energy his way for the stage today. It's a 16.5 mile TT; it's long, hilly, and at altitude, a good mix for Corey. He's in 21st overall right now, but only 2 minutes out of a top 12. With the TT today and Gila Monster epic stage on Sunday, he could jump into the top 10. good luck Corey.

Man vs. Lizard: Corey Farrell's Gila Report Stage #1

2009-04-30T07:55:00.003-07:00

Our youngest team member, Corey Farrell, isn't afraid to cause himself immense amounts of pain and suffering in the name of athletic accomplishments. It should surprise no one that Corey was once a professional triathlete! Corey headed over to Tour of the Gila, one of the gnarliest US stage races. Below is his race report from stage 1:

So heres my experience on stage 1. It was a 95 mile race, and there was a break of 3 guys that got away early and got a gap of 9 minutes on the pack. I attacked with 50 miles to go and got 3 guys to follow and one bridged up. We worked alright, but a few guys were missing their pulls so I filled in for them. I definitely felt like I was the strongest. We got a gap of about 2:30 on the pack, and closed the gap to the 3 leaders to about 4 minutes. We held the 2:30 to the pack, but we eventually caught the 3 leaders.

So there was a lead group of 6 with 2:30 on the pack and it was about 10 miles to go. 7 of those were STRAIGHT uphill and finished at 7,000 ft. We started the climb and I felt awesome. We were able to drop 2 of the guys with 5 miles to go, leaving a group of 4 of us. The other guys definitely looked pretty beat, and I was still feeling REALLY good. We rode together and our gap was only down to 2:20 with 3 miles to go, so we were definitely going to stay away. To be honest I was thinking of an awesome victory salute to make up for Zack's at Dana Point. I was 99% positive I was going to win. We rode together all while still holing on to our 2:20 lead with 2 miles to the finish. Then...I hit a wall harder than I have ever hit a wall before about 1.5 miles from the finish. It felt like a gorilla/rhino/semi truck slammed into me full force. I went from planning a victory salute to about to tip over on my bike. The other guys rode away from me like I was standing still, I wanted to die. I was seriously riding at MAYBE 3 mph. My legs just wouldn't work no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't believe it. I was looking over my shoulder praying I would be able to hold on for a good placing.

Then it happened. A group of 3 guys passed me, then a group of 2, next a group of 5. Then thats all I remember. I wanted to die right there on the mountain. I guess at the finish I sat my bike down and laid down. Paramedics started an IV on me, and filled me up with 3 bags of whatever it is they use. I was lights out, and mummified with wet towels and ice packs for what they say was over an hour. When I came to everyone was gone except a team of medics and the race director. I got a ride back into town in an ambulance, and now I feel a lot better. I think I might have placed right inside the top 20. When things went bad, they went REALLY bad. I'm still going to try to salvage a good result in GC.

Roll the tape!

2009-04-29T13:01:00.000-07:00

Zack's win on video

http://www.flickr.com/photos/schueyjr/3482276806/in/set-72157613006454551/

Thanks Mark!

2009-04-28T15:30:00.000-07:00

A number of people have asked "Who takes all these awesome photos of the Swamis?"

Many of our photos have been provided by Mark Johnson of Ironstring.com.

Since Mark won't toot his own horn, I will. Mark takes some of the best cycling photos I've seen (besides my Dad's!) and he's an excellent writer. Actually, it's Dr. Mark Johnson - he's the owner of a PhD in English Literature from Boston U (kinda blows away my little BA in English Lit from Illinois State U).

Check him out at http://ironstring.com/wp/index.shtml

Chris

Race Report: Dana Point Grand Prix NRC Criterium; Sun Apr 26th

2009-04-28T15:16:00.000-07:00

The Swami's DET rolled into Dana Point down a few of our regular riders (Alex and Rob were off at Collegiate Conference Championships in Davis), but with the added reinforcements of Joel, Pascal, and secret weapon Orion Berryman. In addition to our added firepower we had Corey, Jason, and myself representing as well. Daggs 'wired us up' before the race, pro style (race radios). Every time we came around the squad received status updates of breakaways forming, and relative position of all our riders in the field.

We had a field of 60-70 racers, Cat 2 only, on the fast and technical course in Dana Point. Very similar to the course of last year, with a slightly wider "back stretch" for added "safety". Still technical, still plenty of opportunites for sketchy guys to make dangerous moves.

Our race was shortened from 60mins to 55, and after brief race instructions from the announcer and head offical, we were off. The Cat 2 Swamis did a good job of starting near the front and all our guys were active from the start. Category 2's racing is known for very irratic pacing. Attacks, lulls, more attacks, more lulls, a crash, an attack...etc. Minus a few scary guys, this race was surprisingly safe. Nearly every move had a Swami covering it, and we all maintained great position throughout the race. Pascal covered no less than 15 moves on his own. That guy is a machine!

Towards the end, Corey attacked and got off the front, only to be reeled in. Immediatly Orion counter attacked, and spent a few laps off the front. He was brought back with about 5 laps to go, setting up for a sprint finish. I made a point to find Joel in the scrum, as we were supposed to link up for the leadout in the finale. By Magic/Miracle/Sheer Luck we linked up, and I followed Joel's wheel throughout the final laps. When I got antsy and started trying to get in front of Joel he would caution me to hang back and stay on his wheel.

Finally, with 1 lap to go, Joel surged with me still on his wheel from about 10th position. We came up the little rise and Joel dropped me off on the outside of 3 turns to go in 3rd wheel. I punched it from there, and 2 guys attacked on the inside as I came over the top. I got on them and then moved inside to come out of 2 turns to go in 2nd position. From there the guy leading accelerated down the back straight and about halfway down the back straight I made my move around the last guy in front of me. I did the whole sprint/acceleration in the saddle, as I was worried standing up to sprint would cause me to lose a tiny bit of momentum. I came into the last turn super hot, leaned the bike and pedaled through the final turn, barely scraping my pedal. From there it was just about holding onto the lead. Somebody told me I crossed the line with about 5 bike lengths on 2nd place.

Great race! Awesome teamwork by the entire expanded squad. Huge thanks to Pascal, Orion, Jason and Corey for the hard work/awesome attacks. Props to Joel for dropping me off in perfect position. Well done team!

Zack Simkover

Zack Wins Dana Point GP Cat 2 race.

2009-04-28T15:11:00.001-07:00

Photo credit: Mark Johnson/Ironstring Communications

If it's an NRC Crit in April and they have a Cat 2 race; Zack is our guy!!!

Blog Revived from near death by enterprising college students!

2009-04-28T15:05:00.000-07:00

Yes thats right Swamis Dev team fans; we were down, but not out!

Cmdr Daggs is a bit busy so he has recruited the resourceful and currently unemployed Dev team rider, Jason King, to take over Blogger duties. As well as training mega miles up and down the mountains of San Diego (thus allowing JK to climb with the pros at Sea Otter!), JK also is pretty handy with websites and Blogger having been Blogguy for his previous team!

So without much more delay. Here's some new updates! And we'll do some old race reports just for kicks!

Cmdr Daggs out!

Race Report: Red Trolley Crit, Sun Feb 8th

2009-02-11T08:01:00.000-08:00

Riders: Chris Daggs, Skyler Bishop, Rob Carr, Zack Simkover, Jason King, Corey Ferrell, Jose Quintero, Alex Jarman.

Following the epic conditions of Saturday's Blvd. RR, the Red Trolley Criterium was held in good conditions. This was the first race of 2009 where the entire Swami's Developmental Elite Team lined up together at the start.

The event was maxed out with 120 Pro/1/2 men lining up for the 75 min race. Jelly Belly, Fly V Australia, Team Type 1 had full squads with Rock fielding a few riders as well. Zack, Daggs and Alex proved to be the most aggressive and active early in the race, covering everything that look dangerous and ensuring Swami's wasn't left out of anything promising. Alex covered a great move very early on; it was good to see a Swami in that one as all the pros were there. It came back after a few laps. Jose and Jason mixed it up as well. This was Jose's first race of the season; "I missed the speed" said Jose after the race-well there was plenty of that today! As the race wore on, the attrition weeded the field in half as continued attacks kept the pace consistently hard. After Corey's epic ride at Boulevard, he was understandably physically and mentally tired so he got the day off. Rob Carr had a rough day at the office and went down in a minor crash early in the race; he's fine but landed on some old wounds and dinged his pride.

Amazingly, no breaks were successful and as 5 to go was displayed we were all together. I've been suffering from pulled muscle in my back, and didn't expect to finish the race. Riding most of the race at the back, I wasn't privy to most of the early and mid race attacks, but in the closing laps I joined up with Daggs, Alex, Zack and Jason in our attempt to maintain our position near the front and contest what was guaranteed to be a fast, elbow banging sprint against a few of the top sprinters in the country including several current and past National Criterium Champions.

Alex and Daggs rode attentively in the closing laps staying near the front and actively covering each and every attack. A dangerous move with Brad Huff and Justin Williams as well as two Fly V Australia riders slipped off the front going into 3 to go, and the selection seemed to have been made. In a last ditch effort to keep Swami's in the race I bridged across bringing the field with me and keeping Alex and myself in the mix. I made a mistake as we started the bell lap, finding myself on the outside and getting swarmed up the inside. By the time I was able to slot back into the forward moving group Alex and I were twenty riders back and, at those speeds, were unable to move up anymore. I finished just inside the top 20, with Alex just behind me a few places further back.As my first race of the year, and the first race we've competed in as an entire team, I'm very happy with how we all rode and look forward to the next month of racing as we really start to gel as a team. This is going to be a great year!

Photo: Sky nailing a break back with 3 laps to go.

DET in Velonews

2009-02-08T23:29:00.000-08:00

Corey gettin some press. Nice work covering Foyd!

"In the future everyone will be famous for 15mins." Andy Warhol

Keep it coming boys.

More Boulevard Pics!

2009-02-08T11:32:00.000-08:00

Some Boulevard pics

2009-02-08T00:26:00.001-08:00

The feedzone

The start

Boulevard Results

2009-02-07T22:26:00.001-08:00

Corey 20th
Orion 26th

Nice.

One to Remember!

2009-02-07T20:10:00.000-08:00

Boulevard was insane! Zack, Corey, Jason, Jose, Orion Berryman and I lined up for the Pro/1/2. It was a stacked field with Floyd, OUCH, Jelly Belly, Team Type 1, Rock, Team V Australia/Successful Living, and many other good guys. About 15mins before the start it started to rain, then it turned to big snowflakes! WOW! On the start line the snow was blowing sideways. We asked about doing 3 laps instead of 4 and the officials said "Nope you're doing 4." WTF? Seriously it was like 35 degrees and, honestly, really dangerous for crashing and our health - the chances of hypothermia were there. I wasn't too cold. I had on a LS baselayer, 2 jerseies, leg warmers, arm warmers, a water proof hat, vest, rain cape, and waterresistant gloves and shoecovers. We took off and it was FREEZING. The legs did not want to work. The guy next to me turned around after a mile! In the first mile we had a crash! You were constantly getting gapped by guys. IT was freezing on the descent. I couldn't feel my hands or quads! On top of that my brakes weren't working well at all. We finally hit the climbs and the field had already thinned out. I sat in the group on the climbs, but felt horrible. It was going to be a 1 lap race for me. I cruised in and it was snowing heavily on me at the top of the climbs. Apparently half the field quit! I rode down to the car with Zack and found Jose already warming the car up and Jason trying to get warm in Corey's car. We finally warmed up and headed out to help Corey and Orion. Corey toughed it out for nice top15 (I think); on lap 1 he was talking about quitting to save it for VOS, but he must've felt better. Orion rode awesome for a guy who says he hasn't been training! About 25 guys finished total. Not a bad showing for the Swami's! What a day! I'll not foret that anytime soon.

My friend from Team Type 1 was there and didn't even start - he's doing ToC and didn't want to get sick. Don't blame him. He rode on the coast and said it was sunny all day for him. Alex and Rob rode really well in the collegiate A race and took 4th and 5th. Not too shabby at all.

Tomorrow we have the Fiesta Island TT and the Red Trolley Crit - we'll see how they go after today.

Chris

Ouch indeed!

2009-02-05T17:43:00.000-08:00

35 pros registered for Boulevard including Floyd; Ouch, Jelly Belly, Team Type 1, and Team V Australia p/b Successful Living will be there in force. With the weather predicted Boulevard is going to be epic!

Race Report: Mothballs Crit, Sun Feb 1

2009-02-05T17:25:00.000-08:00

Coming off a very solid showing at Poor College Kids road race the day before, the team (Chris, Rob, Alex, Jason, and myself) cruised up to Isla Vista to race the Mothballs crit. Basically a pancake flat, fast, 4 corner crit course in the industrial buildings of Santa Barbara. I decided to ride up the day of the race just to get a little longer warm up in my legs, and Jason drove my car to meet the rest of the guys in Isla Vista. Everyone pinned on their numbers, pumped of their tires, and spun around until the start at 4:00 P.M. The weather turned out to be awesome, and we were all looking forward to the last race of the weekend.

With the ENTIRE Team Type 1 pro team present after their Tour of California training camp, the race got up to speed pretty quick. There were a few small initial breaks that were brought back quick. All of us tried our chances at a break, but on this course its pretty hard to get out of sight. All of us were also pretty anxious to get up to the front at bump elbows with the Type 1 guys, and thats exactly what we did. The pack pretty much stayed together for the entire duration of the 75 minute crit.

The goal for the race was pretty simple. We were to stay at the front, get into strong breaks, and drop our fast man Alex off into the Type 1 lead out train for the final sprint. With about 4 laps to go I encountered some trouble when someone in front of me knocked over a giant traffic cone right into my front wheel. This was right when the pack was really rolling and I ended up losing my spot in the front end of the group, but somehow I was able to make it back up with about 1 1/2 to go. While this was happening to me Chris, Jason, and Rob were able to drop Alex off right into the lead out.

Coming into the final turn Alex sat 5th wheel and was able to taste a top 5 finish in a Pro 1/2 crit. Unfortunately the guy right in front of Alex opened up a wheel and when you're in a lead out traveling at nearly 40 mph its nearly impossible to close a gap within 200 meters. He was pretty bummed, but it taught the rest of the guys some lessons, and it proved to us we are going to have an awesome season.

Next up is Boulevard road race and the Red Trolley crit in San Diego.

Corey "Ferret" Farrell

Race Report: Poor College Kids RR, Sat Jan 31

2009-02-05T17:18:00.000-08:00

My apologies if this race report seems a little mish-mashed, but I’m cutting it close to some homework deadlines in order to get this done. However, writing race reports is actually a very productive activity because the Swami’s team like supports me a lot and all that good stuff.

So, moving on, this past Saturday the DET headed out to Santa Barbara for the Poor College Kids RR. While it was my first race of 09, it was the second for Corey, Daggs, and Alex who had raced Long Beach a week prior. I was super nervous about racing again and considering my well-known history of crashing in Santa Barbara County (the place is cursed I swear) I had good reason to be cautious. But the nervousness was good because it got me being first rider to the start line of the P 1,2 (excellent photo opportunity). The course was an out and back, mainly flat-ish, with a nice gradual climb out, then a not-so-nice steep/pitchy climb on the return route, and headwinds galore. Not too much of a magnificent send off at the start, but off we were, and then soon enough after following a few accelerations I looked back and found myself in my very first break-away of the year!!! And I had only been racing but 5 minutes!!! Excitement turned to resent as I began to realize that the move was doomed so I did what I could to sit in. One match burned. After being reeled back, I changed my game plan to holding my position near the front and following all the good wheels. I kept an eye out for the Liquigas guy, and then I noticed the Cervelo Test Team dude roll by, and then, oh, I must have forgot to mention the 18 Team Type 1 guys in the race, who all looked exactly the same (annoying). I followed some wheels, closed a few gaps, and then missed the Liquigas guy, Aaron Olsen and three other TT1 guys roll away at the top of the gradual climb and then proceeded to take a “breather break”. Four more matches burned. I spent the rest of the first lap doing what I could to make stuff happen. Daggs and I were being pretty active at the front during a hard session in the cross winds all the while hoping that something would separate itself from the pack, but the TT1 guys, acting as though they were going to win the race or something, decided to play hardball and stop anything from rolling away. Daggs was working well with Jason and I on his wheel until he made the mistake of getting pushed a bit too close to the edge of the road and was then forced to hit the emergency eject button. No worries, all rubber was kept on the side of down and he soon rejoined the group at the back, with a noticeably large amount of dignity gone missing. And the race kept rolling. The pitchy climb on the way back was fast. Ten thousand more TT1 guys rolled off the front at the top of the climb. The DET, however, missed out on the move because it kinda hurt, a lot. We rounded past the start/finish out for the last lap and headed up the gradual climb again. I decided to be smart about it this time and saved some energy until the top of the climb. Once we hit the false flats at the top I saw that the move was leaving the group and I made an acceleration to latch onto the back. What seemed to be my most promising opportunity of the race was quickly shut down and I was relegated back to my mid-pack position. Which brings me to a total of 12 matches burned. At this point, Alex decided to hit the front, hard. The break was within eyesight when we hit some of the longer sections of road and there seemed like a good chance it might come back. 3 more matches burned. It never happened, the breakaway guys proceeded to turn on the jet engines when they saw that the pack was getting close at the turn around. The last half lap to the finish line was fast as the riders lined out the group leading up to the bottom of the final pitchy climb. The pack fractured on the climb and a couple strong groups made it to the top. Corey and Jason were there in the mix and rolled into a fast finish. Jason decided it would be a great idea to make his move at 2 km from the finish. Of course, he had forgotten just exactly how incredibly far away 2 km was and quickly got reeled back in. Corey stayed strong to be our best finisher of the day with Jason a few riders back and then me a little while later and then Alex and Daggs. In my own case, seeing that I had only brought a 24 pack of matches along for the ride, my ass was toast mid-way up the last climb and I did what I could to out-sprint the other two guys who had rolled into the finish with me (awesome photo opportunity). Of course, pay no attention to the results because according to SoCalCycling.com I no longer ride for the Swami’s, but have since been traded to some unknown team along the Canadian River called CRRC. At the finish TT1’s infamous climber/sprinter dude named Ricardo Escuela took the win with his teammate behind him in second. Oh! and by the way, Gord Fraser (former domestic pro and current TT1 director-and Tour de France participant) had tagged along for the race and was nice enough to give me some compliments on the matchingness of my Swami’s bike/kit combo. He seemed suuper jealous. I could sense it.

Hasta la proxima!
Rob Carr

Race Report: Long Beach Crit, Sun Jan 25

2009-02-05T16:44:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe the season is already here and underway! We went to the Long Beach Criterium on January 25th for our season opener. Alex, Zack,Corey, and I were there and Joel Stranglehold joined us.

I gotta say, I've been racing a loooong time and I was really excited for the first race more so than years past. The team has really come together this offseason and I can see the guys are going to be good and that's something to look forward to.

I signed up for the masters race to get some extra training in and maybe snag a result. Doubling up is an art form. You can't go too hard in the masters race if you're doing the 1/2 race, but it's hard to turn off the competitive fire! The field was huge (over 100 riders) and it looked a lot like a regular 1/2 race-lots of fast guys. Besides Joel and myself, Josh Zlotlow was racing. I was so excited to be racing again that I went with an attack on the first lap-woohoo! I ended up being pretty aggressive all day, but no breaks would stick. I finished off the race by trying to help Joel go for the sprint. I dropped back with a lap to go and I think Joel got swarmed on the final lap.
One down, one to go.

The Pro/1/2 race had a big field. Both Pro and U23 National Criterium champs (Rahsaan Bahati and Justin Williams) were in attendance along with some local pros like Tony Cruz. Swami's was represented by Zack, Alex, Corey, Joel, and myself. The race got underway and breaks started going on the first lap. There were a lot of excited racers with some horsepower so we regularly doing 30mph down the straightaways. Zack, Corey, and Alex were doing a great job of covering moves and keeping Swami's at the front. Alex rode super smart and made the break of the day. He was away with a few pros from Rock and Jelly Belly as well as some strong local guys. Zack and I covered the front and helped shut the race down. As laps went by it was starting to look good, but before we knew it the field started chasing furiously (under the impetus of Tony Cruz) and the break started splitting up. Alex was on the wrong side of some pro team tactics in the break and came back to the field in the last few laps. We were wasted from our efforts so not much happened in the sprint for Swami's. C'est la vie. We couldn't be too disappointed-for our first race the team rode great; it showed we'll be right in there forthe rest of the season.

More good news to come. Thanks for all your support Swami's!

Chris Daggs

It's ON!

2009-02-05T16:36:00.000-08:00

The 2009 race season is here and we've got race reports coming up!

Training Camp 2009 Part 3

2009-01-20T09:16:00.000-08:00

Day 3! Whew! The first two days were pretty solid so everyone was a bit tired on the last day. Overall, everyone was riding strong-really good. Our final ride was a relatively flat cruise up the coast at tempo pace. We clicked off the first half of the ride quickly and arrived in Isla Vista for a cafe stop. The weather was awesome so we hung out and enjoyed some coffee and smoothies in the sun. Then we headed over to the UCSB campus for team photos. After that, back to business and we headed back down the coast. Unfortunately, Rob took a nasty tumble and scraped himself up. He'll recover, but it was ugly! And without a follow vehicle, he had to ride then final 50miles-ow! We ended up with 106 miles. Everyone was psyched about camp and their form. We made it home jsut in time to watch the Chargers lose to Pittsburgh-oh well! Not a great year for the Bolts! Everyone packed up and we headed back to San Diego looking forward to the 2009 season.

Training Camp 2009 Part 2

2009-01-12T08:01:00.001-08:00

Wow! I thought surviving camp was going to be a matter of surviving the intense training rides, but today we discovered that wasn't the case! Plenty of other obstacles presented themselves. After a good night's sleep, we rolled out at 8:30am for a long hilly ride to the Malibu canyons. The Santa Ana winds had arrived overnight and it was extremely windy as we headed out. We had Rob's dad, Bob, following us again which was awesome (it helps so much to be able to drop off extra clothes, grab drinks, and change wheels- it makes our rides so much faster).

As we headed south the headwind was incredible; we were barely doing 15mph into the wind! Finally we got some shelter and we did some echelon/paceline practice. This went well until a wind gust caught Corey at an inopportune time; he crossed wheels and crashed. It wasn't a hard crash, but still shook him up. After a bit he got back on the bike and we headed to the canyons. The wind was raging when we hit the climbs; the first climb was awful and we ground up the canyon at 7mph into a block headwind. When we arrived at the top we decided to alter our route to save time. The new route worked out much better. We covered some beautiful roads and finally had the wind at our backs for the return trip. The ride ended up being 85 miles with 7000ft of climbing (while fighting 20-40mph winds!).

When we got back to Oxnard the follow vehicle (my Volvo) died at an intersection. While I stayed with the Volvo awaiting AAA, the guys headed home to deal with another crisis! Apparently, someone attempted to break into Jason's car while we were on our ride and the car alarm was activated. The alarm had been going off since the morning and the neighbors were demanding the car be towed and a cop had arrived to cite Jason! After explaining the situation to the officer the situation with Jason's car was resolved. AAA arrived and I got the Volvo running again (after spending 90mins and $150 for a new battery). What a day!

We ended Day 2 by heading over Corey's house for dinner with his family. The Farrell's had tons of great food for us; a nice way to cap our stressful day. This evening's team meeting covered team tactics and our approach to races in 2009. We headed back to Oxnard and soon after it was lights out. On tap for our final day: 106 mile flat coast ride to Santa Barbara and back.

Training Camp 2009 Part 1

2009-01-10T22:05:00.000-08:00

We kicked off the 2009 season with our training camp in Oxnard. Most of the team arrived Thursday night. Our first official ride was Friday morning. We set off at 8:30am for a 103 mile ride around Lake Casitas before stopping in Ojai and then up Rose Valley. Rose Valley is a 30 mile climb (!) but we were only going up to the 15 mile mark. The ride had 5900ft of climbing! Eric Bennett of NOW Racing and Dan Ramsey from the Time Pro team joined us, both live in the area. Rob Carr's dad followed us all day providing drinks, extra clothes, and spare wheels. Having the car was great! We averaged 19mph for the ride; there lots of tired legs at the end.

After a long day in the saddle we arrived home for snacks and naps. Jose arrived this evening via Amtrak and we collected him at the train station. On the menu for dinner was lots of pasta; it was pretty amazing how much pasta we ate! Our Friday team meeting covered the 2009 race schedule and what races the different team riders would be attending. On tap for Saturday is a long hilly ride in the canyons of Malibu.

The New Guys!

2009-01-09T17:36:00.000-08:00

The new guys are cool:

Corey Farrell (19; Cat 2): Corey was a pro triathlete at age 16 and ran for UC-San Macros as a freshman. He turned his talent towards bike racing and rose through the ranks fast! He's motivated for any race, but he's gonna be a huge talent for stage racing and hilly road races.

Jason King (23; Cat 2): Jason was a student @ SDSU and is focusing on racing in 2009. In 2008 after a successful spring he headed to Belgium for the summer with the US collegiate all star team. He placed in most of the races he did (nice) and is looking forward to the spring stage races. JAson loves climbing and will be a welcome addition to the squad.

James Stout (21; Cat 2): James is a PhD student @ UCSD and hails from Oxford, England. James raced all over the world and came to San Diego for the warm weather. He's got passion for our sport and it shines through in his racing. He's the British National U23 12 HOUR TT Champ. That's a long time!

Alex Jarman (21; Cat 2): Alex is a homegrown member of the DET. Alex joined Swami's last spring and quickly went from Cat 4 to placing in Pro/1/2 races by July. Alex placed top 20 at the Collegiate National Crit Champs and is looking to upgrade that placing this year. Alex will be one of the main sprinters on the DET and looking for a few wins in the spring Cat 2 races.

Rob Carr (21; Cat 2): Rob is another homegrown DET member. Rob started the season not sure if he could upgrade and immediately began earning podiums and handily upgraded. He immediately took to Pro/1/2 racing. Rob will be a factor in any road race and is looking to get his upgrade to Cat 1 by spring's end.

That's the cast for 2009! Season's almost here. The next entry will be from our training camp in Oxnard.

Chris

The Crew

2008-12-29T19:57:00.000-08:00

Back for more are Marc, myself, Sky, Jose, and Zack.

Marc Yap (34; Cat 1) - Marc is my partner in the DET endeavor and perfect for his role as ultimate teammate, faceman, and big brother. He's got his hands full with a new family, but will be doing a handful of races and managing some behind the scenes stuff. When Marc clips in he always makes it count and it never goes unnoticed.

Chris Daggs (35; Cat 1) - A bike racer to the core, I love the bike and I'll always race. I am planning on a few more seasons in the Pro/1/2 ranks and want to share my passion and experience with the young ones. DET is a lot of work, but there is nothing more satisfying than positively impacting the lives of young people.

Skyler Bishop (25; Cat 1) - Sky is our crafty ex-pro. Like all of us Sky has a passion for racing and wasn't ready to retire after the 2007 season. 2008 was a transition year for Sky, but he used all the skills and speed from his pro days to grab some great results. He's lookin good for 2009.

Jose Quintero (33; Cat 1) - Jose guides the way by reminding us why we race and ride. "I love riding my bike." Jose had an awesome 2008 and was our DET Mentor of the Year. Jose posted some of his best personal results while setting a shining example for the young ones. As well, Jose was not afraid to tell the youngsters what to do which is what DET is all about.

Zack Simkover (24; Cat 2) - Zack is why the DET was created. Zack has the passion for racing and the talent to back it up. He's taken advantage of the opportunities DET has offered and run with them. Zack racked up a big race win in Ojai at the Garrett Lemire Memorial GP and scored more results throughout the season. He's on track to get his Cat 1 and join the big boys.

Next up: the New Guys.

Chris

Plus les choses changent plus elles restent les mêmes...

2008-12-29T19:07:00.000-08:00

The more things change the more they stay the same.

2009 will be the 22nd season I have pinned on a number at the races. 22 years is a long time and when I think about it makes me feel old! I'm 35 years young, but I still don't feel too much different than when I was 23. Maybe a little. Each season gets a bit better it seems and I still love the training and racing. 2008 was immensely fulfilling; I achieved some personal goals which I'd been working for and I got to see the Swami's DET take off in a big way. DET is an important project for me and the cycling community; the success of my young teammates is great to see. So I present our 2009 DET roster:

Marc Yap - DS

Chris Daggs

Skyler Bishop*

Jose Quintero

Zack Simkover*

Alex Jarman**

Rob Carr**

Corey Farrell**

Jason King*

James Stout**

* = U27

** = U23

Competitior Article

2008-09-03T22:53:00.000-07:00

Check it out!!!

http://www.competitorsocal.com/features/swami%92s-the-gurus-of-cycling.html

NICE!

It's Always Sunny in Ontario, CA!

2008-09-03T19:14:00.000-07:00

August 24th. Ontario. Cali. 95 degrees in the shade.

And yes we could see the mountains.

It was the one of the final stops on the SoCal race circuit. Zack, Sky, Rob, and I suited up. It was super hot as expected. I covered a bunch of breaks. Finally the field split and Sky and Rob joined me at the front. The break escped without Swamis, so Rob and I threw down. I did the best leadout I've ever done and Sky got 10th, 3rd in the field sprint. I got 13th and Rob was in the 20s.

Next week Zack, Marc, and I road trip to SF. That's gonna be fun!

Chris

M-I-A

2008-09-03T19:06:00.000-07:00

We need updates.

Daggs hamming it up again for a socalcycling.com covershot!

2008-06-15T21:11:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I was hurting here!

Chris

DET=Racing!

2008-06-15T20:26:00.000-07:00

We have been racing a lot! So much that I've had a hard time updating the blog! So while I watch the final quarter of the much vaunted Lakers vs. Celtics Game 5, I'll attempt to update you all!!!

Quick Recap:
When last we left off we had returned from the State RR and Alex Jarman had joined the DET.

OK-fast forward
May 11th- Alex Jarman (newly minted DET rider) rocked out at the Collegiate National Crit Championship and scored an excellent 19th place. Anytime you pull down a top finish at any National Championship that's huge. Alex has made huge improvments in 2008 and hopefully he'll continue to progress with the DET. That's what we're here for!

May 17-18- DET vacation...much needed.

May 24th- State TT. Alex and Zack headed up the State Individual Time Trial. Both rode well with Zack taking 14th and Alex coming in in 16th. Tough day, but good efforts and good prep for the State TTT in 2 weeks.

May 25th- Barry Wolfe Gran Prix: This race was HAAARRRRDDD. Ow. Lotta pros and allaround good bikers! We hit it from the gun and all the heavies made the break in 5 laps. Like sheep we continued to chase and the pace was evil. Gutter ALL day. Okay; it's just a 4 corner crit. But, man it was fast. Lotta pros can do that. Also a few tight corners and some wind add to it. Sky, Jose, Zack, Alex, and I put in a good effort. Alex and Sky hooked up for the sprint, but they got into traffic. With the top places up the road we all chose to live to fight another day.

May 26th- Long Beach Crit: Ow again. 100km in the wind. This race started fast and kept crackin'!! Again a break formed LAAATE. A few teams missed it, but it (the break) had horsepower and was gone. I was blown as was Zack. We pulled out. Jose, Sky, and Alex flew the flag well. Sky flatted with 2 to go and was bummed-no free lap for him. No big results to report. It was a tough weekend at the office for the DET. Next up Dana Point.

June 1st- Dana Point: Fast. Tight. Lots of $$$. Cool course. It was gonna be a hammerfest. DET fielded a solid squad: Marc, Jose, Zack, Sky, Alex, and me. We rode hard trying to redeem ourselves for the previous weekend and did a good job. We covered all the breaks and closed gaps when we could. It was FAST! Again the late break got away. We were on the wrong side of that, but Zack, Alex, and Sky made a HUGE effort to get to the front for the sprint. Sky and Alex made it to the final stretch, but there was some sketchy bikin' goin on and Alex barely survived for 16th; a very good effort. Sky was in there for 22nd. Not the big top ten we all wanted, but we rode hard and got a good result from the new guy!

Next up: State TTT and Chula Vista.

Chris

Lots o' updating

2008-06-09T18:08:00.001-07:00

lotta updates and news so look out!
here we go...

Our C-Dales are PIMP!

2008-05-21T07:54:00.000-07:00

It's pretty much unanimous- our bikes are RAD!

We'll be racing in LA this weekend look for another update Sunday night!

Alex Jarman joins the DET!

2008-05-21T07:50:00.000-07:00

We are proud announce that Alex Jarman will be joing the DET for the remainder of the 2008 season. Alex is a Swami and a UCSD team member. He was very motivated to get his upgrade and go to collegiate nats and he's accomplished both! Alex scored his upgrade on May 4th and headed off to collegiate nats and scored 19th in the crit. Not too shabby! Alex will also be attending the U23 National Champs in Orange County this August.

Welcome Alex!

May update

2008-05-21T07:40:00.000-07:00

May's closing out soon and here's a brief update. It's been kinduva quiet month so far. We hit Barrio Logan and San Luis Rey and rode well at both but a result escaped us. I crashed at Barrio (no big deal) and we had no guys in the top 20. But we rode really aggressively. At San Luis Rey we rode well too and Jose and Dana ended up 21st and 25th respectively- not too bad for an evil RR.

At the State RR Jose threw down! He attacked from the gun and stayed away til the final 30 miles. Dana and he finished in the group but both were top 30. I rolled in 37th. Marc and Zack were great workers and helped us out a lot!

I also scored a 5th place in the 35+ championship the day before and got on the podium! Here's a pic:

...Even Rocky had a montage!

2008-04-23T00:46:00.001-07:00

Zack Takes GLMGP Crit!!!

2008-04-17T12:36:00.000-07:00

Zack picked up his first Category 2 victory at the Garrett LeMire GP on Sunday April 13th! Awesome!!! I'll post Zack's report and some photos. Jose, Sky and I raced the Pro/Cat 1 NRC event and it was fast! Jose finished in thefield, but not after a HealthNet wrecking crew demolished the peleton! Only 60 out of 120+ riders finished. Good on ya, Jose!!

Chris

We Need A Montage!!!

2008-04-17T12:19:00.001-07:00

Images from Anthill

DET Victory Numero Uno

2008-04-15T21:33:00.000-07:00

I knew we were going to win a race or 2 this season, but I couldn't have guessed who would take our first win or when we'd get it.

Adam Bickett was inspired in 2007 to see what he could do as a racer. He joined Swamis hoping to upgrade from Cat 3 to Cat 2 in Spring 2008. Adam worked hard in the winter and kicked butt at Valley of the Sun in February. Voila, we had a new teammate! Adam did a few Cat 2 races with Zack (and did well), but his focus has been qualifying for Collegiate Nationals. Adam did his first combined Pro/1/2 race with us at the UC-Irvine Anthill Crit...and he won. He won! When you help a teammate win its like you win too. And when a team collectively puts one of their guys over the line first, it's an awesome feeling. And it was a team effort! Zack, Dana, Adam, Colter, Jose, and I all worked to make it happen. Dana again displayed amazing fitness and covered almost all the attacks in the first half of the race. Zack and Adam also snuck away in a promising break, but it got reeled in. A big attack went halfway thru and Adam and I both made it into the group. At this point I was thinking we'd come away with a top 5 finish. Adam followed another rider off the front of the break and that proved to be the decisive move! Adam and his breakaway companion lapped the field and Adam got an awesome lead out from Zack and Jose to win the race! I finished in 7th.

When you help a teammate win its like you win too. And when a team collectively puts one of their guys over the line first, it's an awesome feeling.

Chris

April 7th was a big day for the DET

2008-04-15T21:21:00.000-07:00

This pic says it all.

Racing, Racing, and more Racing!

2008-04-15T19:55:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of updates, but I've been sick. I'm better now, but uuugghhh.

Lots to update so here we go!

March 22nd-DEL MAR #2 Great racing by the Swami's we were all over the front of the race. It was hard racing too- Toyota-U, HealthNet, Time, Successful Living, and many more great teams and riders were represented. Breaks were going all day and Swami's covered them all. Marc, Jose, and I made the final break but got outfoxed by Jose Garcia from Toyota-U. Our group got swept up on the last lap, but Sky pull it out in the sprint and picked up 10th. It was a preview of things to come!

March 23rd-ONTARIO. What do racers do on Easter? We got a bike race! Zack and I headed to Ontario. Not much to report. I got 8th in the Masters race, but had plenty left for the Pro/1/2 race. Zack and tried hard, but it came down to bunch sprint. Zack was 29th. Afterwards we put in some more training as penance for our riding!

March 28-30th-San Dimas Stage Race. SDSR is a big race for the Category 2's and Zack was pretty inspired. The big news was the return of Dana! Dana had been at both Del Mar Crits, but his knee was finally feeling good enough to do a race weekend. SDSR was an ambitious comeback, but Dana was up for the challenge. Dana had a solid TT and showed that he still had lots of fitness despite the time off. Zack had a tough TT, but finished in the group in the RR after attempting to bridge to the break. Both Zack and Dana were looking for a result in the final stage crit. The crit ended in a sprint with Zack and Dana both in the field. It was a tough weekend for Zack, but Dana rode extremely well for his first race back and again that was a preview of things to come. Zack's performance was short of what he hoped, but he too had a better ride to come.

Chris

New! Official Swami's Riding Weather!

2008-04-15T19:50:00.000-07:00

Now you can get your riding weather forecast from the blog! Check out our current weather feature from AccuWeather.com!

Blogger Sick!

2008-04-01T23:04:00.001-07:00

Sorry all been sick for a few days. But I've got updates:

Del Mar #2
Ontario Easter Smackdown
SDSR (for the Cat 2s)
the return of Dana
fancy new helmets!

Chris

Zack is a superstar!

2008-03-26T07:10:00.000-07:00

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/03/20/sports/communitysports/5ea976a2390fe71a88257412006ca08d.txt

Here's Zack's article in the North County Times! Awesome.

It's great that he's getting a bit of press and the exposure is great for the team. Everyone on the squad is really psyched right now about our momentum and we're looking forward to the next few races. Next up Del Mar #2!!!

LAX Circuit Race March 16th

2008-03-22T12:20:00.000-07:00

After a rough day at the office on Saturday; Zack, Marc, and I headed up to the LAX Circuit Race. Here's Zack's race report:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Sorry to send out this race report a little on the tardy side - Nytro is starting up their busy season, and I've been pretty swamped over there. This Sunday, Chris Daggs, Marc Yap and myself drove up for the LA Circuit race. A giant hotdog shaped race course with 2 long straights and 2 one hundred eighty degree turns. Due to the late start to the National Race Calendar, many pros are living in CA, waiting for the first big stage race of the year: Redlands. As a result, all our local races have been FAST. The fields are at max capacity, and everybody is coming to race with solid fitness. LA Circuit Race was no exception, and registration filled all 125 spots for our race. Several Pro teams brought their fast guys - including Toyota United with Ivan Dominguez, Dominique Rollin, Caleb Manion, Hilton Clarke, and Jose "Chepe" Garcia. Rock Racing brought a full squad, including former 4th place Tour de France finisher, Tyler Hamilton. Marc was a victim of this race's new found popularity. He got caught out on the waitlist, and did not get to start.
Daggs and I toed the line and the race kicked into high gear right away. The wind was blowing hard, with a huge tailwind on the downhill finishing straight, and a nasty headwind on the back straight. As a result breakaways would continually roll away on the tailwind section, only to be reeled in on the headwind side of the course. I followed several moves, a few of which were initiated by Tyler Hamilton. That guy is tiny, but definitely strong. He did not have the hollow look of a grand tour racer, but the natural talent he possesses still shines thru. With so many sprinters at the racer, the field sprint was inevitable, and Daggs and I finished safely in the pack. Fast race with a quality field.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

He put's the 'Master' in Master-san

2008-03-19T09:52:00.000-07:00

Saturday, March 15th will forever be known as the day Steve Masterson tried killed me (and Marc and Zack and Jose). He almost succeeded, but we were able to withstand the onslaught of attacks during this Master-class display of power which was so Master-fully orchestrated.

We showed up @ Nytro to ride with the club. Everyone was a bit tired from the Del Mar Crit- like waaaaay tired. A light workout was in order. Steve was sporting his new Cannondale Super Six and ridin' high after his podium appearance at Del Mar.

In an exhibition of Team Discovery-like control; the Swami's Cat 4 squad placed a Vice Grip on the front of the field, refusing to back down. Albert, Troy, Steve, Fred Muir, Pascal "The Hammer of Wallonie" Bonaventure, Andy "Way Above" Parr, Rich Sarles, Cam Sanders, and Bob Rosemeyer (forgiveness for anyone forgotten) threw down! After Master-san's Cipo-esque sprint (see below) 4 more Swami's rounded out the top 11. Awesome!

So we start rolling to San Elijo and I fell terrible- like my door mat! I'd been tired since the crit, but it seemed worse today! As we climbed in to San Elijo I was huffin and puffin...and Steve rolls by like Contador. Then after we round the corner and come to the next climb he puts in a bit of a dig! Immediately Zack (who was up front) switches from 'Chill Mode' to 'Robo-domestique/Hunt/Attack/Destroy Mode'-and this is really my fault as I drilled into diminutive Zack that when attacks go you must follow and counter ALWAYS! So the hammer gets dropped. Now Jose starts going for it-he's having PTSD flashbacks to winning the KOM in Tour of Northwestern Venezuela. And now the other guys are joining in. I made a nice move on the descent and sprinted out of the corner only to get severe leg lock and nearly get dropped! Thru the park Steve puts in a dig on the climb. Owwww. "Seriously, whats wrong with me today," I think out loud. At this point the madness must be stopped. I went to the front and tried to set some kinda tempo for the church sprint. Over some seemingly minor rise I think I bonked and someone launched the sprint. I limped home, but watched Steve nearly upset Zack in the all important church sprint. Thank you Buddha for helping Zack win. I barely make it to the church. Steve is chatting away looking as fresh as the day he showed up at UCSB and Marc, Jose, Zack, and I all look pale and clammy! We comiserated about our frail aching bodies and determined that there would be no long loop today-in fact if someone wanted to ride back to the coast and get a car we would wait at the church for that person and buy them dinner. We were hurtin pups. The ride left without me as I waited for Skyler (who did the A ride and met up with us) and we spun home. It felt like we could have walked faster! I checked my Polar CS400 for the average speed and it showed a whooping 13.5mph when I got home. Poor Skyler was equally wasted. I think he stopped along the road in Rancho Santa Fe and took a nap after we split up. I heard that Steve continued to put the wood to the ride on the way back to the coast. I think next time I'll just do the Swami's A ride-at least I expect that one will hurt!

Ride Epilogue: upon arriving back to Casa Daggs I napped for 4 hours!

Chris

Del Mar #1 Vid

2008-03-18T22:39:00.000-07:00

http://delmarcrit.raceplan.com/docs/media.html

Sweet.

Del Mar #1 or The Blue Train of Pain!

2008-03-18T21:16:00.000-07:00

Del Mar #1. The importance of this race was not lost on the squad at all. It was a race we could win. To make things interesting a handful of 'hitmen' showed up. Yup-the Foregin Legion heard about our little race and came down to play.

Matt Wilson- Team Type 1, Aussie RR Champ, 2x TdF competitor
Ben Brooks- Team Type 1, Giro competitor, hard mofo, Aussie Champ
Hilton Clarke- Toyota-United, winner of countless races, Aussie Champ
Caleb Manion- Toyota-United, another hard Aussie mofo, always in the top 5
Matty Rice- Jelly Belly, yet another hitter from Oz

For kicks we also had 3 Rock racers: Rashaan Bahati, Justin Williams, and Iggy Silva- all multiple US champions. And there was also the usual assortment of SoCal teams and fast guys, SDBC, 5 Star/WVO. It was not gonna be an easy Wednesday night training crit.

Game on.

The gun was fired promptly @ 7:25pm and we were off for a 'neutral' lap behind the Hoehn Motors Honda Element pace car. We were jockeying for position and when the Element pulled off, the Foreign Legion PUT IT DOWN! Our pre-race meeting was basically, stay safe, stay up front, and stay upright! Immediately, all the guys came up front! Jose, Marc, Skyler, Dana, Zack, myself, and even Rob Carr and Alex Jarman! Guys were coming off the back in packs! The course was tough especially in the dark! Wow! I flatted and headed to the pit. I'll be honest; I didn't want to go back in. The race was dicey in the dark and I didn't want to crash. But I knew the team needed me so I sucked it up and jumped back in. Of coursethen the crash happened. I got gapped with Rob and Jose. Zack and Dana went down. Both looked okay. Unfortunately, we had to chase back to the group. My splinter group chased for about 20 minutes, but we finally rejoined. Then it was time to go to work. The team had missed the break and we had to chase to go for the win or at least limit the damage. Chasing also kept the race safer for everyone-on this difficult course a high pace would keep things smooth and eliminate weaker riders. We got organized, put the entire team on the front, and then rode our guts out for the next 30 minutes. We were keeping the leaders from lapping, but they were just too strong. We switched to leadout mode and kept it fast for Skyler; he was our best chance in the sprint. The guys were pretty wasted. Skyler ended up 4th in the bunch gallop and 10th overall.

It was a huge team effort. Everyone was psyched. 10th was good considering all the work Sky did. But it wasn't about the result really. It was about the ride! We sacked up and rode like pros. The entire team was proud. Skyler summed it "That's how we roll. We're riding like that all season. Like pros. Like a team. On the front."

Here we come.

Off The Front!!

2008-03-18T21:07:00.000-07:00

'Cause That's How We Roll Baby!!!

All season, every race. Rain or shine.

Bring it on!!

Media Darling

2008-03-18T20:56:00.000-07:00

The North County Times is doing a story on Swamis, the Del Mar Crit Series, and DET!! Sweet!! I spoke with the reporter, Matt, for a few minutes and then he spoke to our poster boy, Zack, for about an hour. Very very cool. We'll post the article when it appears.

Chris

The Biggest Winners

2008-03-18T20:41:00.000-07:00

Okay this show makes me cry EVERY time! Seriously! The Biggest Loser These people work so hard and you get to see the incredible impact their amazing transformations have on them.

Seriously, check it out. I try never to take my fitness and health for granted. Always draw inspiration from the hard work of others.

Chris

Tour of Murrieta

2008-03-17T23:00:00.000-07:00

ToM was a great race for the DET. Here's a quick recap:

Stage 1: Hard. Lotta pro squads-Kelly, Toyota, Rock, Jelly Belly, BMC. Ouch. Breaks went and the field split a few times. Windy. We were throwing the boys at the front, but nothing was sticking. Field sprint time. With 4 to go Kelly wound up the lead out only to crash in the first corner. Not cool a) pros aren't supposed to crash when leading the field and b) the Kelly guy at the bottom of the pile got F-ed up! Zack and Marc hit the deck, but were okay. Sky and I survived, but I was gapped. Skyler rode like the pro he is and freelanced the sprint for 7th. Very nice. It was a good team effort even with the crash in there.

Stage 2: Harder. We wanted to stay in the GC so the plan was to get Sky into the sprint or into the break/split. Jose and Zack were going to cover moves and make sure we were represented. Marc and I were tasked with looking after Skyler-get him drinks, move him around, keep him out of the wind, keep him fresh for the action. The course was awesome and so was the weather. The wind picked up and so did the action. A few laps from the finish the field split under pressure from the heavies AKA Dominique Rollin and Neil "Don't Call Me" Shirley. Everyone was on board and the race shut down behind us. I made the move for the team but Skyler didn't. What now? Wait for Skyler and if I was isolated go for a good stage result. At the finish Karl Bordine slipped the break and won to once again remind the pro teams they passed up one of the best guys in the US-they don't just give away Elite TT Championships!!! I hung on for 18th-nothing special but a good effort. Skyler busted out the fast legs again and took 4th in the field sprint. In the end Sky took 15th overall and I got 25th. We were happy with our race. We headed off to dinner with Karl and the guys.

Next up DEL MAR!

Chris

Finally a break; well kinda!?!?

2008-03-14T14:20:00.000-07:00

We do a lot of races! We just did Del Mar #1 Wed night and I still haven't posted a report from Murrieta! Look for a bunch of updates this weekend.

This weekend is a bit of a break for the team. And we can use it! We've been racing and travelling since January 19th! A few guys may race this weekend and we'll post a report from that race.

DET Stats to date

2008-03-10T21:19:00.000-07:00

49 races
4523kms of racing
7 team members
1 new addition
2 states raced in (AZ and CA)
2 host families
30,477kms of training
163 Clif shots consumed
1207hrs on the bike
754,310Kcals burned
2 flatted tubulars
3 crashes

Merced/MERCO Classic Wrap Up-Thanks Jen!

2008-03-10T20:41:00.000-07:00

A shout out to Jen, Zack's friend, who HOOKED us up with host housing at her Mom's place in Snelling- right on the RR course. The location was fantastic, and her family was amazing. Thanks Jen!! We had the best time. A few other teams (yes teams) were staying there and her family took all of us in like the mongrel nomadic bike racers we are (actually the DET is filled with respectable young men, but the other teams...). Jen is a bit of a rock star. She's been featured not just once, but twice in Pezcyclingnews.com 'Daily Distractions.' After the road race on Sunday, we showered at Jen's and had lunch before hitting the road. The trip back to SD was long, but it was a good trip. Another weekend and 2 more races on the books; only 6months of racing left!!

The Kids

2008-03-10T20:19:00.000-07:00

Adam debuted with the DET at Merced which was very cool! In his first Cat 2 race he placed 15th; an awesome start! Adam finished in the field in the RR. We're looking forward to doing more races with Adam and I know Zack is psyched about having another Cat 2 teammate.

Alex had an awesome weekend! He won the Cat 3 crit on Sat and got 6th in the RR on Sunday. Alex was on cloud 9 and we're hoping he can get his upgrade soon and join us on the DET!

MERCO Cycling Classic Day 2 terribly long (and somewhat boring) Road Race

2008-03-10T19:40:00.000-07:00

This will be a quick post. The MERCO RR was 200K!! That's a long race. Sometimes you can get bored during a long race, but seriously this thing would not end!!! Brief synopsis: Race was hard for 100k (but not too bad). Entire field decided to chill for food and a pee stop at halfway. Jose, Sky, and I were refueling and the break went; 25 guys...no Horner. Everyone looks to Horner to chase. Horner says whatever. Break pulls out insurmountable lead. Field starts racing again with 10k to go. Race finishs (there we'rent any places left. And that's bike racing.

Zack was doing the Cat 2 race and looking good. He made the break. Zack's exuberance turned out to be his enemy. After a few too many hard pulls Zack cooked himself and the break left him behind. Ouch. Good news for Zack; he made the break, he's riding strong, and he looks good in the new kit. Bad news; missed out on a top 7 placing worth valuable upgrade points. Zack was bummed, but he's got plenty of results in him. We all commented that you only make the mistake (working to hard in the break) once!

Zack in the Break

Jose and Horner >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Horner dropped out soon after. So We all beat Horner which means Sky, Jose, and I can all finish top 16 in the Tour ..... Right?

the blogging continues...

2008-03-10T19:39:00.000-07:00

I'm watching Miami Vice while blogging...who says there's nothing good on cable!

Keep Your Head on a Swivel

2008-03-07T07:50:00.001-08:00

Saturday, March 1st (afternoon): The downtown Merced crit is always a bit dicey. It's not NRC this year, but that didn't diminsh the speed or pro team attendance. With Bissell, Kelly Benefits, BMC, Rock, Colavita, Successful Living, Chris Horner (Astana!!!), CA Giant Strawberries, and LaGrange (and us) at the races, it was gonna be fast! In years past, Merced was always the first NRC and the first outing for pro teams which made for nervous racing. It's not an easy course; it's bumpy so you really have to concentrate and manage the course. Add in the constant battling for position to take the primo lines and it generally makes for a stressful race. Plus there's always a crash (or 2); I've seen broken backs, collarbones, legs, and wrists at this race!! Eeeeek! I never know what to expect and usually go into it with a goal of throwing in a few attacks, stay up, and finish. This year I had Sky and Jose with me-I haven't had Cat 1 teammates for 2 years! Goal one was to get a good start=done Sky and I were on the front row! Goal two was stay there=we did! Goal three was try and make something happen=this one was a lot harder. Sky and I kept our noses in the action, but we were both outta gas by the finale. I got caught behind the inevitable last lap crash, but stayed up. Jose and Skyler were further back and avoided the crash and rolled in safely. A break had been up the road and Alejandro Borrajo, Chris Horner, and Ben Jacque-Mayne lapped the field and finished in that order. Horner was fearless in the final laps diving into corners- just goes to show that when your a world class racer that means world class at everything! Unfortunately BJM got caught in the crash, but got up and rolled in for 3rd. All in all a good day. Swamis were mixing it up with the big boys

Lotta Drivin, Lotta Bikin', Lotta Bikers, Lotta Food OR Everything's Bigger in Merced, CA

2008-03-06T21:36:00.000-08:00

Friday, February 29th: This weekend's exciting vacation plans took us to Merced, CA. Merced is a looooong ways from San Diego. Adam, Alex, and Zack took off earlier in the day; Skyler, Jose and I (Chris) headed out around 7pm. We cruised thru LA and pulled into Visalia around 12 midnight. Head to pillow was good.

Saturday, March 1st-Morning: We woke up refreshed and ready for the afternoon's race. First up was a spin around Visalia. We're thinkin there's not a lot to do in Visalia....yet (see above)....oh yeah!!

Skyler and Jose

We rode for an hour and then hit up Country Waffles for an outstanding breakfast. Oddly, none of us got waffles. Skyler did however pick up a mean case of hiccups which lead to indigestion ALL weekend. Not cool.

NEW GUY!!! Welcome aboard Adam Bickett!

2008-03-05T20:24:00.001-08:00

We are psyched to have Adam Bickett join the DET! Adam was a Cat 3 with the club and was pretty close to his upgrade last summer. Well, over the winter he trained a lot and threw down at the Valley of the Sun Stage Race. He ended up 3rd overall and that was more than enough to earn his Cat 2 upgrade. Adam is working on his PhD at UCSD in Computer Science. Adam's got a big engine and will be a great addition to the team. A few of our other Cat 3's are halfway to their upgrades as well. Hopefully, they'll be joining us this summer.

Chris

Sweet Glorious News! Cannondales a comin!!!

2008-03-05T20:10:00.000-08:00

We heard today that the C-Dales are in transit! Many a Swami's member will be happy. Unfortunately, that means my current steed will probably end up on E-bay. It served me well, but I am looking forward to riding a bike designed and built (by hand) in the good ole U.S of A (as in 'A'wesome!!!)

Details to come! Yeah!

Chris

2008-03-05T20:07:00.000-08:00

There has not been a DET news blackout. Zack's been busy...it's all Zack's fault! Ha!

Swami's Front Page Photo!!!

2008-02-13T13:13:00.000-08:00

Check it! http://www.socalcycling.com/ Good press for the DET!

Holy Pearly White Sweetness Enclosing My Feet!!!

2008-02-13T12:12:00.000-08:00

February 12th

Dang! We just got our team issue Lake CX330C shoes and they are SSWWWEEEEEEEETTTT!! Check out the photos. I'm getting these dialed in for VOS this weekend. I love the BOA enclosure-I've always had ratchets or straps. And they look awesome. We're gonna have to get our SockGuy shoecovers soon so we can keep these squweeky clean in the nasty weather (which hopefuly is going away soon).

For more cool Lake shoes visit their website (just click here). They've even got a web store if your local cycling shop doesn't carry'em. Check it out. Do it!

Chris Daggs

Roger Millikin Criterium Race Report

2008-02-13T10:44:00.000-08:00

February 10th PM

It's been a whirlwind weekend for Zack, Chris, and Skyler. Yesterday, Imperial; today, Fiesta Island and Brea! The field for the Roger Millikin Criterium was full and it was a good field. BMC, Jelly Belly, Toyota, and Rock all fielded riders and all the major SoCal amateur teams were there. Our plan was to setup Skyler or Zack or both for the sprint and Chris and Skyler would represent in the breaks. Swamis was in all the big moves. The racing was very fast as all the pro teams vied to be in the breaks. With just laps to go, a small group pulled away, but Rock Racing put in a huge effort to squash the move and launch Rashaan Bahati to victory. Skyler was in good position for the finale and finished up 22nd. At the end of the day the squad was pretty happy with their effort. Everything is looking good!

Chris off the front at Roger Millikin.

Fiesta Island TT Report

2008-02-13T09:09:00.000-08:00

February 10th AM

Zack and Chris headed down to Fiesta Island to get in some TTing before the Roger Millikin Criterium in the afternoon. Zack threw down an awesome time of :27:11 for 5th place with a little help from his Profile Carbon X aerobars.

Chris was a bit tired from doing a 105 minute TTT at Imperial the day before and finished 11th. Zack's result bodes well for VOS. After a nice warmdown Zack and Chris headed up to Brea for the Roger Millikin Criterium.

Imperial Criterium Race Report

2008-02-13T07:50:00.000-08:00

February 1oth Imperial Classic Criterium

It was a solid day for all Swamis at the Imperial Classic Criterium on Saturday, February 9th. In the Cat 4 race Dan Hernandez took 5th and Troy Huerta was 11th. Troy turned around and did the 30+ Cat 3/4 where he placed 12th! Great job guys.

The Pro/1/2 race had a small, but very strong field: Jittery Joe's (!), Five Star, SDBC, Swami's (Skyler, Zack, and Chris), and many other good riders. With $500 on the line for the winner, it was gonna be fast! Lap one was slow for about 5 pedal strokes and then we hit it. The teams started playing chess; Five Star, JJs, and SDBC all wanted the right combo in the break. Skyler and Chris were covering moves while Zack was waiting to pounce on the right one. At the 20 minute mark a dangerous move went and Chris covered it. The combination of teams was right and the field was content to let the move roll. Chris and the other five riders stayed away for over 60 minutes. Behind the pack split and reformed under lots of pressure from Five Star. This brought the break back with 30 minutes left in the race. Tw0 riders slipped away, leaving Zack and Chris in the chase group. The two riders stayed away with the victory going to Karl Bordine from Five Star. Zack put in an awesome sprint to get 6th. Zack was the 3rd amateur and the 1st Cat 2!! Nice work Zack! It was a great team effort from Skyler and Chris with Zack there to finish it off!

Chris Daggs

Boulevard RR and Red Trolley Criterium Race Reports- short and sweet

2008-02-13T07:24:00.000-08:00

Marc, Zack, and Chris were there. It was cold. Lots of big domestic pros. It was hard. Rough day at the office; the pics should say it all!

Sunday, Chris and Skyler braved the rain for the Red Trolley Criterium. Chris took 4th in the Masters race. Chris and Skyler both lined up for the Pro/1/2 race. The weather was miserable and Chris and Skyler packed it in early rather than risk health and injury. Rain races are never fun!

New Team Partner-HUTCHINSON TIRES!!!

2008-02-06T08:12:00.000-08:00

We landed a tire partner today-Hutchinson!!! Sweet! Everyone is getting tires and tubes-cool! Check them out:

http://www.hutchinson-pneus.com/us/

Training Camp

2008-01-31T21:55:00.000-08:00

It was a rough weekend at the office. Originally our plans were to head to Camarillo for camp. Unfortunately, our accomadations fell thru at the last minute. Everyone was bummed, but the weather was looking dodgey so we viewed it as a blessing in disguise. On top of that a few of the guys were sick; they needed rest more than miles!

Friday: Dana, Skyler, and I headed down the coast for some climbs of Mt Soledad. The 3 ascents were tough and Dana was killing us! Sky headed home early for much needed rest-he was on the tail end of a bad cold. Dana and I got in a few extra miles.

Saturday: Marc, Zack, Jose, and I joined the Swamis ride for a good workout. Loic, our Belgian guest, joined us as well. Zack did the short loop; he was fighting a cold too. Marc, Jose, Loic, and I got in some great training-it was a fast ride. Skyler slept til 3pm (WHOA!) in an effort to feel better. Dana woke up with a sore knee and needed the day off. We got together that night for a movie ("I am Legend" pirated straight from China!!!) and some pasta. It was a good time hanging out.

Sunday: The general consensus was to skip the CBR Crit since the weather was looking bad. I did a few hours on my TT bike. We got together over at Skyler's for another zombie movie ("28 Months Later"). Skyler and Zack seemed better, but Dana's knee was still sore. Skipping the crit was good-it was cancelled due to a flooded course!

It was a great week of training for me and the team was looking good. We're all looking forward to the season getting into full swing in a few weeks.

Chris Daggs

MLK Race Report

2008-01-24T21:21:00.001-08:00

Last Saturday saw the first race of the season in the town of Crenshaw, which is more or less South Central LA. The course was approximately 2-3km, with a bumpy descent over 3 drainage ditches, followed by a sweeping left onto the back straight into a tailwind, followed by a chicane leading into a bumpy 1 block hill, before making a final left turn into an uphill headwind 200m finishing straight to the finish. As this was not a scheduled team race (the first being this Sunday in Dominguez Hills), the full Swamis - FPPI Devt Elite Team was not in attendance. Chris Daggs, Dana Alia, and myself ventured up to Crenshaw, with Daggs competing in both the Master's 35+ and the Pro/1/2 races. Alex Jarman from the UCSD - Swamis development effort also raced the Cat 4 race. Loic Marcourt (our belgian exchange cyclist) came with us to get his first taste of US Crit racing. Loic helped us get ready for our races, cheering and shouting advice from the sidelines.
Chris Daggs was very active in the Masters race, following many moves and generally being an aggressive rider thru-out his race. With 15 minutes to race, Daggs launched a vicious attack, quickly building a 30 second gap. Now in Time Trial mode, Daggs maintained his gap and took the 30 second gap into the final lap. Unfortunately, the cards were stacked against him, and the sprinters worked together to bring him back. The worthy effort was foiled, and Chris had to rip off his top number and now race in the P/1/2, with less than 10 mins of recovery.
Dana and I were considerably more fresh for the race, and it looks like the big, consistent miles we have put in over the winter are paying off. We took turns countering moves off the front along with Daggs. It is worth mentioning that the field was a very solid and fast one, with LaGrange Cycling out of West LA bringing 16 riders to the race. Tony Cruz (former US Postal and Discovery Channel rider) from the BMC Professional team, along with Hilton Clarke (former Navigators Pro Team) from Toyota United Pro Cycling team were also in attendance, along with a smattering of fast guys from around Southern CA. Clearly, with LaGrange bringing the full squad, they were looking to dominate the race, and put guys in every move, or chase down anything that did not have a couple of LaGrange riders in the break. Gradually a break of 8 riders formed, escaping in 2's and 3's. Hilton Clarke made the move, and with his help, the break lapped the field. Meanwhile, back in the pack, the attacks were nasty, mostly coming from riders who wanted to be in the winning break. Tony Cruz was especially active, and when that guy dials it up, it is brutal.
The breakaway of 8 lapped the field with 5 laps to go, and LaGrange began to lift the pace, looking for a sprint victory (5 of 8 riders in the break were LaGrange). As the pace got faster and faster, two other LaGrange riders that had attacked the field (not part of the original break of 8) were left out in NoMan'sLand, and their gap was rapidly shrinking. Tony Cruz led thru the chicane and up the final hill, before Hilton Clarke blasted thru the inside of the final corner, snatching victory from LaGrange. Going into the chicane, I was sitting in about 6th wheel, with Dana Alia right behind me. We blasted up over the hill, and I opened up my sprint, good enough for 4th or 5th in the field sprint, 12th overall. Dana came in a few spots behind me, somewhere around top 20. Daggs unfortunately paid for his heroic efforts in the Masters race, and finished off the pace of the lead group.
For the first race of the season I was satisfied with the result. I feel like Swamis - FPPI Devt Elite can be a factor in any race we do, and this weekend's Crit is a sign of better racing to come. The race paid 15 deep, so we even got to split some prize money at the first race of the year. Following the Crit, Dana, Daggs, Loic, Alex, and I went to see the LA Track World Cup. We saw the Men's Keirin, Team Pursuit Finals, and Men's Scratch race. Watching world class athletes in competition helped us see the bigger picture, and what is possible at the top end of our sport.
Until next race.
Zack Simkover
Swamis - FPPI Devt Eite
Team and Media Relations

First one on the books...

2008-01-20T23:18:00.000-08:00

We ventured up to do the MLK Crit on Sat to kick off the season. We'll have more details from the weekend soon, but it was a good start!

I luv this guy!

2008-01-18T12:20:00.001-08:00

http://www.velonews.com/race/int/articles/13926.0.html

Cipo @ Ontario #1?

Not far off...

2008-01-18T10:57:00.000-08:00

Racing is around the corner! We got our clothing yesterday. IT'S FANTASTIC! Nice work Capo!

Zack, Chris, and Dana are heading up to the MLK Memorial Crit on Sat to kick off the season. Next week is camp; 2008 here we come!

1/1/08

2008-01-02T11:52:00.000-08:00

The squad kicked off the new year with a big ride out of San Elijo Hills. We met up with many a bright-eyed and bushy-tailled Swami and headed out for a day of climbing in and around North County. The entire team was in attendance (except for Zack who rung in the New Year like a ROCK STAR!!!) Our first target was Rice Canyon. From there we continued on to Rainbow, turned around, headed up Couser Canyon, rode over to Valley Center for a brief food stop, dropped into Escondido, and from there the group split off to return to their respective homes.

Stats for the day:

Flats for the day: 2

Powertaps lost/run over: 1

VMs and texts answered by Marc while riding: 37

KMs: 146

Total vertical ascension: 6000+

Ride Time: 5:24

Total Time: 9:38 (It was more like 6hrs, but it seemed to go on forever)

It was a great way for us to ring in the New Year.

Oh baby-our hot team Cannondales!

2007-12-24T09:09:00.000-08:00

For 2008 we'll be riding Cannondale Super Sixes on the road. These things are HOT! If riding a cutting edge ProTour level frame for 2008 wasn't enough...they're going to be custom painted and decalled. Nice.

And a few of us are getting Capos to race on the track.

Swamis 2008 Kits

2007-12-24T09:03:00.001-08:00

Check out our 2008 kits.

Squadra Azzura Swamis

Swamis DET adds CLIF as Team Partner!

2007-12-24T08:49:00.000-08:00

We are happy to announce a new partnership with CLIF for the 2008 season! Awesome! Most of the guys have used CLIF and loved it. Support for the Swamis DET has been amazing and we can't wait thank our partners from the podium!

1st Developmental Elite Training Camp; A Huge Success!

2007-12-14T10:36:00.000-08:00

Fellow Swamis, Team Partners and Friends,

This past weekend, the Developmental Elite Team (DET) hosted its first training camp of the season. The camp lasted two days and traversed some of San Diego's most beautiful (and challenging!) northeastern landscape. Over the weekend the DET riders had a chance to ride and bond with each other, while getting in solid training time as well. The full Elite Roster was in attendance, including: Chris Daggs(co-capt), Marc Yap(co-capt), Skyler Bishop, Dana Alia, Zack Simkover, and Jose Quintero. During the weekend the squad was also joined by several of San Diego's strongest elite riders, who helped maintain an orderly and professional atmosphere while riding.

Saturday's ride left from Panera Bread with the regular Swamis ride and headed north to Oceanside and then east out the Oceanside Bike Path. From here the ride climbed up into the hills of San Luis Rey, down the beautiful descent of Circle R, into the back end of Escondido, and then up and over San Elijo Hills. Rain threatened all day, but luck was with us, and we stayed dry and in good spirits. Following the ride, the DET met up for a team business meeting where we hashed out our basic racing schedule, talked about team equipment, and discussed creative ways for giving back to our partners. Next season's race schedule will be both challenging and rewarding with events including Redlands, Manhattan Beach, and Elite National Championships, and racing pilgrimmage to Belgium. A very productive first day of camp was capped off with team dinner, great jokes and plenty of excitement for next season.

Sunday proved to be an even more challenging day of riding, departing from northeast Carlsbad and heading out to the fabled hills of De Luz Canyon (the hills between San Diego and Riverside counties). De Luz Canyon does not have a single inch of flat roads, every mile is either up or down, with many switchback climbs and technical descents. The vistas of Temcula and Murrieta were breathtaking and especially rewarding after the many difficult miles logged that day.

After two days of camp, the team chemistry is fantastic and all signs point to an extremely productive and fun 2008 racing season. Stay tuned for more team updates as the year progresses!

Zack Simkover
Media and Team Relations
Swami's Developmental Elite Cycing Team
Swami's Cycling Club
Encinitas, CA

Rollout!

2007-12-11T08:45:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Swamis Racing blog! Our aim is to capture the adventures of the Swamis Developmental Elite Team as we pedal through the 2008 cycling season (and beyond). Over the course of the next few weeks we'll introduce the various team members, up n comers, sponsors, and key players for the 2008 Swamis DET. You'll see regular pics and postings from Marc, Chris, Skyler, Dana, Zack, and Jose and also many others.